.WRITERS.ON.WRITING..Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #67
Sara streeter
Why did you submit this piece to Yellow Arrow Journal? Why this piece at this time to this place?
(This is a GREAT question!) I’ve been impressed with so much of what Yellow Arrow does and publishes, and I wanted to be a part of the community. When I learned about the theme of this issue, kitalo, I knew I had to submit. This story has been in-process for years and the [submissions] call was a push for me to finally get it right. I also live in Silver Spring, which is not far from Baltimore!
What is the first book that made you cry or laugh out loud?
I found a first edition of “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” when I was young and read it cover to cover. Francie felt like a friend to me.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Observe everything. Don’t skim over details.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
It tells me I’m a badass. And that I have something important to share with the world.
Sara Streeter, or 한혜숙 Hea Sook Han (she/her), is a transracially adopted Korean-American, interior designer, biological mother of two, and writer. Since starting her writing journey in 2021, she has been published in Longleaf Review, Hippocampus Magazine, Peatsmoke Journal, and other fantastic places. Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net and Best Micro Fiction. Visit her at sarajstreeter.com.
Yellow Arrow published Sara’s piece “Bitter / Sweet” in Yellow Arrow Journal Vol. IX, No. 2, kitalo. You can also find her on Instagram @_streetstreet_ .
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #66
Rebecca D. Martin
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
I was an early reader and can’t remember a time I wasn’t enamored with books. My mother would take my little brother and me to the public library, and I remember pulling books from the shelves, opening them, and—magic after magic—being transported. Feeling transported. I think that’s one of the first and earliest realizations of language’s power: the power to instantly take the reader elsewhere, while at the same time deepening and enriching very real feelings.
What is a book you wish someone would write? That you want to write (or are writing)?
I want more bookish fantasy with strong heroines. More and more of it—and I want the characters to have disabilities. So I am, indeed, currently writing a book like that. Myth, wheelchairs, and books with powers.
Why did you submit this piece to Yellow Arrow Journal? Why this piece at this time to this place?
I wrote [“Girl on the Edge”] over a year ago, one year into learning that I am autistic. The photo and event I write about, that particular time in my tender, teenage life, keeps coming back to me. That young woman who was highly masked and afraid of what she was needs to be seen and held, because she is still present inside of me. Yellow Arrow Journal’s ELEVATE theme brought a final piece of understanding for me: though I didn’t understand why at the time, the songs of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers lifted me, kept me from sinking as low as I might have while I was in hiding from myself. Their song “Fugitive” is perfect.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
Get these thoughts on paper immediately so you don’t explode!
Rebecca D. Martin is a writer and educator whose work has appeared in the Curator, the Brevity blog, Isele, and Susurrus, among others. She is currently releasing her autism memoir in essays at rebeccadmartin.substack.com, where she also talks about nature, books, poetry, and teaching. She lives in central Virginia with her husband and daughters.
Yellow Arrow published Rebecca’s piece “Girl on the Edge” in ELEVATE, Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. IX, No. 1. You can also find her on Instagram @mrsmartinreadsbooks and Facebook @rebawrit.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #65
Samantha Liana Williams
How did you first publish your writing and what was it?
The first thing I ever published was in my university’s literary journal. It was a poem titled “A Coming Home,” which was like an ode to my paternal grandmother that everyone compared me to as a child.
What period of your life do you find you write about most often?
My teenage years. I am beginning to write about my early 20s, but I became a mom young, so for me, the periods where I was my freest self I tend to write about.
What is a good writing habit you have picked up?
I journal. I think as a writer, it’s important to keep track of feelings and also crazy and different comparisons that can be brought into poems. I also have what I call “a word bank.” It’s like a document with all my favorite words based on how they sound to my inner ear that I tend to pull from. I also kind of write in phrases, like I’ll be thinking or watching something, or even listening to music, and something will make me write a line or a phrase in my head, so I’ll jot it down on paper. I have this document full of random thoughts that I tend to pull from. It’s like an archive.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
To always be listening. That words and poetry are magic. That kids really do say the darndest things and if you listen closely and pay attention, kids are the best poets. They have a way with imaginative comparisons and throwing two things together that you wouldn’t think relate but somehow do.
Samantha Liana Williams is a writer and poet. Her work about two-ness and nostalgic reflections has been seen in BlackJoy Archive, Obsidian Literature, and Soft Quarterly. She is a poetry reader for Muzzle Magazine and a 2023 recipient of the John Lewis Writing Grant for poetry. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her eight-year-old daughter and newborn.
Yellow Arrow published Samantha’s piece “An Extenuation of Thanks” in ELEVATE, Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. IX, No. 1). You can also find her on Instagram @samanthaliana_.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #64
Gargi Mehra
How did you first publish your writing and what was it?
The first piece of writing that I had published was a nonfiction humor piece in a major Indian women’s magazine called Femina. I queried the editor and got an instant response asking for the article. It was published in the next issue itself, and I am very proud of it.
What is your writing Kryptonite? Your most interesting writing quirk?
I think words such as ‘just,’ ‘only,’ and ‘somewhat’ are my writing Kryptonite as they indicate a lack of confidence. My most interesting writing quirk, based on feedback I have received, is probably my tendency to inject humor into even the most poignant of pieces.
If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be and why?
Jane Austen, just to ask her what she thinks of the fact that her books are beloved so intensely even after two hundred years and could she ever have predicted it.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
It sometimes tells me I’m awful at writing and I should give it up but when I don’t it tells me I’m brilliant and I should persist so I do.
Gargi Mehra works as a project manager in the IT arm of an international bank. Her work has appeared in numerous literary magazines online and in print, including The Writer, Litro, On the Premises, and others. She lives in Pune, India, with her husband and two children.
Yellow Arrow published Gargi’s piece “Striking the Right Notes” in RENASCENCE (Vol. VI, No. 1, spring 2021). She blogs at gargimehra.com and recently switched her focus from novels and longer stories to flash fiction and poetry. You can also find Gargi on Instagram @gargi_mehra, Facebook @gargi.mehra.7, and Twitter @gargimehra.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #63
Vanessa Y. Niu
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
Though I am currently studying classical music, I grew up singing and acting in a variety of genres, and I also studied theater for two years in London. Theater, musical or not, relies heavily on the power of language to communicate but also to move. Looking back, I believe it was my encounter with Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as Caesar himself in a showcase of Shakespearean fragments, that really catapulted this realization. What was really remarkable about it is that even now I can still recall the feeling of the audience hanging on to your words, feeling your emotions through them, and the rhythm of the language mimicking my heart rate. Exhilaration.
What is your writing Kryptonite? Your most interesting writing quirk?
Being forced to write something in an allotted amount of time tends to clutter my brain quickly with tasks that have nothing to do with writing and completely destroys the attention that writing needs. Then you’ll see all sorts of junky metaphors that don’t flow well rhythmically or are just unintentionally senseless. Personally, I need a lot of time to sort through the cliches and the metaphors I have stored up in my head from reading other works, things that are reflexive memory. It’s a slow process of allowing whatever the predominant emotion I’m writing about really is to come out. Filing, conglomerating, remixing different parts of the mental inventory, putting it on the page. Though, and the quirk ties along with this, there are times writing in a given time can be very helpful (when self-imposed) because I tend to be a control freak about how a piece of writing goes out into the world—it’s very important to remember that not everything has to be understood, that poetry really is just for you.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
To read more widely. I was stuck in a loop of looking for a very specific genre of narrative poetry and I think it might have stunted my growth as a writer. The more you read certainly makes a difference in the structure and voice of a work, but the wider you read, the more styles and schools and time periods, the more tools you have to achieve what you want to achieve in your work. It also helps to develop a style of your own, gives you more to experiment with.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
I think there’s a general consensus in the writing industry now that promotes writing for social change in the world. I think to some degree this holds true. I do wish my writing could enact some change in the world, but I do hope that writing continues to be something innately personal. I write because there is nothing else that is so flexible with my emotions and thoughts—the independence of it is refreshing. I suppose my “inner writing voice” wants me to not take everything so seriously.
Vanessa Y. Niu is a poet who lives in New York City. Off the lined page, her work has been set to music in collaborations with Juilliard and Interlochen composers. When not writing, she likes to play chess with her friends, learn about non-Euclidean dimensions, and listen to jazz.
“Record Player Plays Franco-American Blues” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal EMBLAZON, Vol. VIII, No. 2, Fall 2023. You can find her at vanessayniu.carrd.co or on Instagram @vvn.zihan.